northbank123
I’ve spent the last few years making excuses for Wenger and justifying why he should remain. It’s the board’s fault. Players are greedy. Injuries. Stadium debt. Don’t get me wrong - I could see the cracks appearing in his character, but, like many others, I convinced myself that he was doing a good job in the circumstances. I was hesitant to besmirch the character of a man who, in addition to bringing phenomenal success and joy to a club that was stuttering in the post-Graham era, showed Arsenal tremendous loyalty when he could have taken the France or England job or, truth be told, walked into more or less any job in world football. Indeed, I was somewhat taken aback by the vociferous disdain for the man previously fondly known as Le Prof on this website. I can’t stand by this view any longer.
Of course Wenger isn’t the only problem. Mr Kroenke is a man motivated solely by profit and doesn’t care one iota about the on-field performance of the club beyond financial implications. In Mr Gazidis he has a faithful lapdog who fields the brunt of the burning discontent from any fans who manage to get their views across. I could write a tome on the merits of the sale of shares by the late Danny Fiszman and his counterparts, which many fans feel were avaricious and selfish, but that would be futile at this point.
The reality is that it is completely impossible to separate Wenger from this ethos of profits over trophies. The degree of his complicity varies depending on who you listen to, but the fact is that any ambitious manager would refuse to work with the shackles that are (supposedly) imposed on him by the club’s commitment to paying off the stadium debt. The fact that Wenger idly watches the legacy he worked so hard to build up crumble year by year without protest is proof enough for me that he agrees with the board’s approach to squad turnover.
Despite his tactical failings and baffling faith in certain players who consistently fail to deliver, I actually still think Wenger is a decent coach. Taking last year’s squad of players to third place wasn’t an easy task, and, with Bould slotting in alongside him, we should see the defence improving. This, however, is irrelevant in the long term. The very best Arsenal can hope for is to tread water with the current transfer-policy, and I cannot support a régime which doesn’t aim to be the best. Competing with the nouveau-riche clubs like City and Chelsea and the footballing juggernaut that is Manchester United is not going to be easy. But we were sold the dream that the move from our spiritual home would pave the way for Arsenal to be able to compete on a financial plateau with these clubs. Instead, it paved the way for years of lies from the club and for us to compete on a financial plateau with the likes of Newcastle and Everton, and our net spend since 2003 is currently the lowest of any current Premier League club (bringing in a profit).
The sale of RvP to United prompted many to exclaim that we were now a selling club. In fact, Clichy, Touré, Adebayor, Cesc, Nasri, Cashley, Hleb and Song have all gone to Chelsea, City or Barcelona in recent years, with us receiving Gallas, Diarra and Benayoun on loan in return, and Silvestre from United. Although we got a good price for all those players, other than Cesc and Cashley, and some we were glad to get shot of, it shows that we have been a selling club for years now. This summer has merely been a continuation of that trend.
It is sickening to have to watch Spurs go out and show infinitely more ambition than us in the last throes of the transfer window, even if many of their approaches were unsuccessful and their squad is still average. Even clubs like Fulham and Stoke are showing more ambition than us. We should be bored on Deadline Day because our squad is already sorted, not because we don’t want to upset the fragile equilibrium of our precious balance sheets. For what it’s worth, I actually reckon we’ve bought well. Cazorla will be the best signing for any Premier League club this summer, Podolski brings a bit of quality out wide and cover up top and I think (given time) Giroud will be a good striker. However, we desperately lack a quality DM, Arshavin and Gervinho remain inexplicably in contention for first-team berths, we have two pub-league-standard left-backs and we lack real cover at keeper, right-back and striker. We are a few injuries from fielding Mannone, Yennaris and Chamakh. Moreover, the false dawn of mid-summer has given a stronger indication than ever of the way the club is being run. We’re a laughing stock. For Christ’s sake, even that muppet Theo Walcott is mugging us off. Welcome to AFC in 2012.
The ideal solution would be for Silent Stan to f**k off, but that won’t happen until he feels it is the optimum time to sell his shares. I can’t actually see the club getting rid of Wenger, and I don’t doubt that he will be happy to sit on his reportedly handsome salary until his current deal expires. There’s certainly no incentive for Mr Kroenke to sack him whilst he continues to deliver Champions League football, and any new manager will undoubtedly be informed of the club’s transfer policy. I don’t doubt that AW wants the club to do well, but we have been left behind over the last half a decade and the gap between us and the top will only increase with him at the helm.
I don’t like ‘AKB’ or ‘AMG’ labels because they imply a divided fan-base, and, although I disagree with many fans’ views, we all support the same football club. I am an Arsenal Football Club fan, not an Arsène Wenger fan or a Robin van Persie fan or whatever. However, I can’t deny that the last six weeks or so have proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I have stood by AW as long as reasonably possible, but can only see us ever going one way under him. I simply can’t throw my weight behind a man and a régime who are happy to finish the same position every year and not strive to be the best. We are not Crewe Alexandria, and AW is not Dario Gradi; we are AFC and we are better than this.
It is with a heavy heart that I paraphrase Gooner Roger Daltrey: I’m sorry, Arsène but I won’t get fooled again.
